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Hi Tim and welcome.
This is a question that gets raised very often and I can only give you the advice we give everyone.
Go to a camera shop and have a play with whatever they've got in stock. See what feels good in your hand.
Your choices are really Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Sony and Olympus. Each has it's strong points and each it's weaknesses, but any will serve you well. The camera will not take good pictures, only you can do that. So, get something that you're comfortable with and something that can grow with you.
Make no mistake the Nikon D40X is a good camera, but as far as I know it's been out of production for sometime. You will certainly be able to pick up a second hand one with a 18-55mm kit lens within your budget, but you won't have much change. By the time you've bought a Memory card and a spare battery you'll be at your limit. If you want a new camera you're going to have to increase your budget by at least 50% which will get you a D3100 with kit lens. I don't know anything about Canons, Pentax etc., but you're probably looking at much the same sort of prices.
The alternative option is to hold off getting a DSLR to start with - it's not the easiest of tools to get to grips with anyway - and think about a Bridge camera. These have most of the attributes of a DSLR without the interchangeable lenses. The fixed zoom will have a very large range and this will give you an excellent starting platform within your budget.
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